Charlie Crist Says Race Was Reason GOP Got Mad Over His Hugging Obama

Remember when Charlie Crist hugged President Obama and all the GOPers lost their damned minds over it?

It happened back in May of 2009 right here in Florida and pretty much signaled the end of Crist's relationship with his fellow Republicans forevermore.

Well, Crist appeared on The Colbert Report on Tuesday night, where he addressed the hug. He then managed to piss off GOPers even more when he declared that the hubbub over embracing the president wasn't just politically motivated.

It was also because of racism.

CUE THE PRETEND GOPER OUTRAGE!

"Why do you think it ended it for you?" Colbert asked.

"Several reasons, I think," Crist responded. "Number one, he was there to talk about the Recovery Act, the stimulus, as people call it. And a lot of Republicans took issue with that. So I think that was part of it. Sadly, I think another part of it was that he was a Democrat, but not just a Democrat, an African-American."

When Colbert ribbed him on playing the "race card," Crist responded by saying he was just stating some truth.

"I've seen a level of vitriol directed at this president that I have never seen directed at, you know, President Kennedy or maybe President Johnson or even President Carter," Crist said.

Naturally, the GOP responded to Crist, trotting out a GOPer who happens to have an African-American daughter as well as a white daughter to be the official spokesman of GOP outrage over things that are mostly true.